OLUSEGUN ONI

My Profile

As someone who loves community work, I am highly motivated and very passionate about this field of endeavour. I have previous experiences of community project planning, organising researches for developing community health education and health promotion purposes. I am highly committed to working for the benefit of communities and that is my passion. I am a good listener and I am able to apply, transfer and build on my work anywhere I am. I have in the past conducted effective researches which enabled me to organise projects which support the community health promotion and health education services.

I was funded in 2003/2004 to organise, plan and implement a community peer health educator project which addressed the issue of substance misuse amongst young people in the London borough of Southwark by Southwark Council. Between 2003 and 2006, I received, on behalf of Neovenator Community Organisation (Charity 1099152), various funding for different community health promotion projects with a view to promoting the health and wellbeing of young and elderly people in the London Borough of Lewisham, Southwark and Lambeth.

I love supporting other people’s learning efforts. I actually assist university students and members of the public in their studies, search for work and benefits when the need arises.

I am a very dynamic person very energetic and with a serious CAN Do attitude and approach to problem solving. As a good listener, I pay serious attention to the causes of problems as this enables me to thoughtfully proffer a concise solution to such a problem or situation.

I am never bothered by challenges which I see as opportunities to learn something new. I love being confronted with challenges as it helps me to learn from the root causes of the challenges.

I am a Christian and my faith taught me to respect others and their opinions on issues which may affect them especially their history and life experiences. I have worked with people of various ethnic backgrounds in various health promotion settings such as schools, colleges, faith groups, community associations and umbrella groups. This has increased my knowledge of multicultural health promotion work as I was trained to use groups to promote health and wellbeing. I am therefore committed to promoting equal opportunities and social justice for all types of people I work with irrespective of their ethnic, language, financial, employment status or social backgrounds.

AS a multicultural health promotion specialist, I have undertaken various studies of causes of the numerous issues such as unemployment, divorce and separation, low educational attainment, health issues such as smoking and substance misuse, alcohol addiction, mental health, physical fitness, weight issues, homelessness, teenage pregnancy, single parenting and many other issues such as immigration difficulties which limits access to health facilities for some people and other. My understanding of such issues as it affects the various communities has been helpful and has been the planning platforms for most of the successful health promotion and education projects that I have undertaken in the past years and even to date.

The need for me to ensure that my projects have far reaching impact amongst the target audience group has made me to learn from various agencies how to become a good motivator. I was taught by Tate Modern how to become a good Community Advocate and by the PCT Training Centres on how to work with groups to promote health. Ability to do so successfully requires the definitive skills of motivation. I was able to motive quite a large number of members of the various ethnic minority groups to be involved in my projects so as to be informed, educated and entertained to a level which inspires them to increase their awareness to a level of knowledge for personal development. This I enjoyed doing as it is my passion to assist others to develop their dormant skills and put them to use in the community for the benefit of others.

AS a community worker and regeneration professional, I am available to attend to my clients and service users at all times. I receive calls for assistance till late in the night and even in unsocial hours in the weekends. I am like a Pastor who works till late keeping his sheep intact from attack and deprivation.

I respect myself a lot and my personal integrity is kept intact. As a community worker I am expected to have excellent dignity, understand and respect boundaries, principles and all applicable code of conduct of the organisation and of the various regulatory bodies in UK. This has been at the back of my mind in all my community work and efforts over the years and still remains the same today

I am a good organiser and I am able to work with little or no supervision on any project especially the ones that are assigned to me or were planned and being implemented by me either as an individual assignment or team work.

I love partnership working as it does not limit the use of one’s skills and professionalism but also help to increase learning as you gain more from the experiences and knowledge of other members of a team. I have organised various projects in the past and present days which helped to increase my knowledge of partnership working and my personal development. For example, the on-going Pan London HIV Prevention Mass Media Project was initiated by me when the application form came out in 2008 to be sponsored by the Pan London PCT Commissioners. I involved colleagues work at THT and we formed a partnership which was successful in getting the contract. WE now publish Mambo, a healthier lifestyle Magazine for members of the African Communities in Greater London.

I have vast knowledge and experiences in the use of Windows NT/95/98/2000/Me/XP operating systems and Microsoft suite: MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Outlook, Access, Desktop Publishing: Corel Draw, Page Maker, Adobe Photoshop and Client-Server database design and Software installation, use of internet, email and fax and various social network groups for reaching specific groups of people.

My various community projects in the past years include:

PAN LONDON HIV PREVENTION MASS MEDIA PROJECT

Designed to increasing the awareness of HIV through Small Scale Media Activities i.e. production of African People’s Healthier Lifestyle Magazine title “ Mambo” and organising Seminars and Workshops to educate and inform members of the African Communities community centres and faith groups in the UK on ways of preventing HIV and distribution of free condoms and health information leaflets. Sponsored by Pan London Primary Care Trust Commissioners, London Wide. 2008 to date-on-going.

DRUGS & ALCOHOL PEER EDUCATION

30 Young People were educated on the dangers of substance misuse and the need to make informed choices. Sponsored by Civic Regeneration Ltd which took place at Peckham Settlement, Goldsmith Rd, London, SE15 5TF July 01-July 02.

SEXUAL HEALTH/DRUGS & ALCOHOL PEER EDUCATION

120 Young people ages 8 -21were educated on the nature of sexually transmitted diseases and taught how to say no to unprotected sex, teenage pregnancy and substance misuse. It was sponsored by SOUTH EAST LONDON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION (LOCAL NETWORK FUND) which took place at Peckham Settlement, Goldsmith Rd, Peckham, SE15 5TF from April 2002 to –November 2002

COMMUNICATION SKILLS TRAINING FOR PEER EDUCATORS

Empowering Young Peer Educators to become effective community health promotion communicators sponsored by GREATER PECKHAM ALLIANCE at Peckham Settlement, Goldsmith Rd, Peckham, London, SE15 5TF from November 2002 to February 2003.

TRAINING MILLENIUM VOLUNTEERS PEER EDUCATORS’

Training 45 young people as community project volunteers and sexual health communicators in their residential areas sponsored by SOUTHWARK TEENAGE PREGNANCY UNIT in partnership with Taifa Community Care Project Offices, Peckham from Aug 02 to Sept 02

Discussions on the effects of substances misuse with 25 young people ages 11-16 years sponsored by Civic Regeneration Ltd which took place at Peckham Settlement, London. Jan 02

HEALTHY EATING TALK SESSIONS

Discussion sessions on healthy eating and balanced diet for Young People sponsored by South East London Community Foundation which took place at Nunhead Adult Education Centre, Nunead, London in Feb 02

Breathing for Fitness

Deep Breathing Exercises for Young and Elderly People sponsored by Health First, (LSL PCTs Learning Centre), London which took place at Health First, Mary Sheridan House, London Apr 2002

Youth Rave

Young People’s Intergenerational Discussion Programme sponsored by Southwark Council’s Teenage Pregnancy Unit which took place at Peckham Settlement, Goldsmith Road, London in April 2002

Photo shoot

Young people’s photographic campaign adverts on Teenage Pregnancy Prevention sponsored by Southwark Council’s Teenage Pregnancy Unit organised at Peckham Settlement and which took place in London at Various Locations June 02

HIV Awareness Leaflet Project

Young People embark on HIV Awareness campaign Leaflet sponsored by Southwark Councils Children’s Fund which took place at Peckham Settlement, Goldsmith Road, Peckham, London in July 03

LSL West African Communities HIV Prevention Campaign

HIV/AIDS Awareness/Prevention Campaign among members of West African Communities in LSL sponsored by Lambeth Council’s Primary Care Trusts which took place in Barbers Shops, Faith Groups, Market Places and Community Associations in July 02-Oct 02

Communication Skills Training

Effective Communications Skills Training for Peer Educators sponsored by Southwark Council’s Teenage Pregnancy Unit which took place at Peckham Settlement, Goldsmith Road, Peckham, London in August 2003.

Education

I have a Master Degree in Public Health/Health Promotion and have undergone various community health work trainings organised by the PCTs in London in the past 8 years.